CHAPTER XV
THE CRASH
With moisture fairly dripping from their garments, hanging in beadsfrom their eyebrows, and seeming to penetrate to their innermost being,as water does a sponge, Ned, Bob and Jerry stood at the rail of thetransport moodily discussing the situation.
Yes, they were moody. It was, indeed, enough to make any one moody,though perhaps they should have been thankful that their lives werespared and that they were able to be up on deck, and not obliged to liestretched on a cot in the sick bay. But the boys thought they had justcause for grievance, and perhaps they had.
Certainly to be disabled far out at sea was bad enough, without havingto be fog-bound, to run the risk of crashing into some other vessel,having some big steamer, or perhaps a war craft, crash into them, orbear down on an immense iceberg which might be the cause of the veryfog that would hasten their destruction.
And so, gloomily and moodily, the three Cresville lads leaned againstthe rail, straining their eyes to pierce the misty whiteness thatenveloped them so closely. Every now and then the hoarse bellow ofthe steamer’s whistle would sound out its warning and call--for theblasts were so sounded as to form the international call for help. And,punctuating the whistle blasts, was the clang of the fog bell, runginsistently by sailors detailed for this important task.
Meanwhile all that could be done was to watch and wait--wait for theinevitable. Would the fog lift before some fatal crash? or would theybe further endangered by its opaqueness? No one could answer.
Lookouts were stationed at every vantage point. Men were sent up tothe crow’s nests on the masts, but from there they reported that theycould see no more than could be observed from the deck. Their eyes wereuseless beyond a distance of fifty feet.
“This is fierce!” exclaimed Ned, and he closed his eyes for a moment,for they actually ached from the strain he was putting on them bytrying to see the unseeable.
“You said something!” commented Bob.
“Oh, well, it might be worse,” remarked Jerry.
“How could it be?” half-fiercely demanded Ned.
“We might not be afloat in a sound ship, for one thing,” the tall ladanswered. “Of course we can’t move under our own power, but we’re in nodanger of sinking.”
“No--not yet,” muttered Bob significantly. “But there’s no telling howlong we may be this way. Look at those sails! Might as well hang up acouple of pocket handkerchiefs!” and he motioned to the great expansesof canvas between the wireless masts.
They did, indeed, hang as limp as clothes on a line. Not a whiff ofwind swayed them, and the moisture of the fog, condensing on theirwhite surfaces, dripped down to the deck.
“Well, we can’t do anything to remedy it,” said Jerry, after a pause.“Might as well grin and bear it.”
“What do you say to looking up Professor Snodgrass?” asked Bob. “Thatis, I don’t mean go directly to him, for he might have, as Jerry says,some special reason for not wanting to be disturbed. But if he’s hereon board--and we’re sure, now, that he is--we could ask of some of theofficers and, perhaps, let him know we’re here.”
“Yes, let’s do that!” added Ned. “We started to, but got off the track.”
Jerry considered the matter a moment. Then he said:
“I guess we might as well. We’ll want to know where he is, anyhow, incase of accident, so we can look after him. Let’s go!”
On board the transport the same sort of military rules and regulationsthat existed in camp or on the battlefield did not hold good. There wasmore freedom and ease in going about and in making inquiries, and theMotor Boys proceeded to take advantage of this.
Their first inquiries, however, of some of the ship’s officers resultedin disappointment. No one seemed to know Professor Snodgrass. Theyadmitted that there were several civilians on board the transport, butwere not aware of their names.
Some said they had seen a man resembling the description given ofProfessor Snodgrass, but when pressed for details they described theindividual the boys had dubbed “_le cochon_,” and the Motor Boys didnot want to meet him again.
They even made their way to the passage where the marines had been onsentry duty in front of the mysterious cabin, and, somewhat to theirsurprise, found the men on guard. They were not the same men they hadseen at first, but two burly soldiers who gruffly bade the boys:
“Move on!”
“This certainly is queer,” declared Bob, when they were out of earshotof the two marines. “One time they have a guard there, and another timethey don’t.”
“I wonder why,” voiced Ned.
“Can’t you guess?” asked Jerry.
“No. Tell us!” urged his chums.
“Well, I should think it would occur to you that the marines are notguarding the cabin--just some one in it. And if he isn’t there----”
“Oh, I see!” exclaimed Bob.
“You mean pepper-pot was out of the cabin the other time we were hereand we saw Professor Snodgrass inside?” asked Ned.
“About that,” answered Jerry, smiling.
“Well, that’s a white horse of another color,” remarked Ned. “ProfessorSnodgrass must have been in pepper-pot’s cabin when our volatileacquaintance, _le cochon_, was out of it. Now that the little man wholooks like our friend is there again, the guards are once more on duty.How’s that, Jerry?”
“That’s about the way I size it up.”
“Well, now that we’ve got thus far let’s keep on,” suggested Bob.“Let’s find where the professor is.”
“Why not ask the guards?” suggested Ned.
“We can try,” agreed Chunky. “But they didn’t seem very friendly.”
Nor were they when the friends essayed a few questions. The chief onebeing as to whether or not the marines knew where Professor Snodgrasscould be found.
“Go chase yourself,” was all the reply the boys received.
“Well, we’re on our own now, so let’s make a hunt,” suggested Jerry.“He’s somewhere on this ship, and a man with all the peculiarities ofProfessor Snodgrass can’t be hidden long.”
“That’s true,” assented his chums.
And the search began. How long the three might have been searching,unaided as they were by any information given in response to their manyquestions, is doubtful. Probably if they had been able to find thepurser he would have solved the riddle for them at once.
But that official was not to be found. Doubtless, with the addedresponsibilities that had come with the accident to the ship he was ingreat demand and was not long in any one place.
At any rate Ned, Bob and Jerry could not find him, and no one in hisdepartment would give them the information they sought. The transportbeing so large and so crowded, the professor was almost as well hiddenas though he were in some large city and no one had his address.
As it was, chance came to the aid of the three boys. They werewandering about, now and then going up on deck to see if the fog hadlifted, coming down again, disappointed because it had not, when, asthey were watching a group of sailors putting fresh water in some ofthe boats that were always kept in readiness for instant use, theyheard a well-remembered voice saying:
“Just a moment, now! Just a moment, I beg of you. Don’t stir hand orfoot!”
“And why shouldn’t I stir hand or foot?” asked a truculent voice. “Doyou think I can stand here all day while you’re creepin’ up on me likea scalping Indian?”
“One moment! Only a second more, I beg of you!” went on the firstvoice. “There is on your left leg one of the finest specimens ofsea-leech I have ever seen, and I want him!”
“A leech! You’re welcome to him!” cried the other voice, and throughthe fog the three boys saw looming a strange sight.
A sailor was swabbing part of the deck, and he stood with his mop halfraised from the pail while stealthily approaching him was the figure ofa little bald-headed man, wearing across his nose powerful spectacles.
And it needed but a moment??
?s glance at the little man to show that hewas none other than Professor Snodgrass. Bob impulsively murmured hisname.
The little scientist, edging his way along the fog-wreathed deck towardthe poised sailor, gave one glance and noticed the three chums.
“Oh, boys! Glad to see you!” he exclaimed, as though they had just lefthim the day before. “Please don’t move. I am about to make a mostimportant capture. One moment, my friend. Don’t stir hand or foot. In amoment----”
The professor’s words were interrupted by a chorus of terrific shouts.There was a confusion of voices, mingling with the frantic clanging ofa bell and the hoarse tooting of the big whistle.
Ned, Bob and Jerry caught a glimpse of something big and black loomingup on the port side out of the fog.
A moment later there was a terrific crash, and it seemed as if thetransport would be heeled over and capsized. The fear-anticipatedcollision had happened!